Position of the Board of the Association of Judges “Themis”
of 13 October 2020 on the actions of the illegal Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court against Regional Court Judge Beata Morawiec
There are different ways of eliminating a judge. One is to deprive him of his authority and stigmatize him, a method widely used against defiant judges in authoritarian countries. It seemed as if such methods would not be used in Poland after it regained full independence in 1989. Yesterday’s events that took place in the Supreme Court building, as well as the media lynching that preceded them in the state television, which directly applied to Judge Beata Morawiec, make us view the condition of the rule of law in Poland with fear and sound the alarm bells.
On 12 October 2020, Adam Tomczyński, who was elected by the illegally established neo-NCJ, pretending to be a judge and acting within the framework of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court which was suspended by the decision of the CJEU of 8 April 2020, publicly declared that he was depriving Judge Beata Morawiec of her immunity, suspending her in the performance of her judicial duties and reducing her salary for the duration of the suspension. This statement, from a person who is not a judge and therefore who is usurping the authority related to holding the position of a judge, cannot be considered as having any legal effects, apart from the scandalous justification of the decision and the unlawful manner of proceeding by Mr. A. Tomczyński.
In view of such a blatant violation of the law, all legal means need to be used to prove the groundlessness and illegality of Mr. Adam Tomczyński’s decision. The intervention of the bodies of the European Union, the Council of Europe and other institutions dealing with the protection of Human and Civic Rights also needs to be requested.
It should be stated that, in the light of the actions of the European courts, which are increasingly frequently referring doubts to the CJEU regarding the independence of courts and judges, that the Polish judiciary is currently perceived as being dependent on the political authority. Unfortunately, the events that took place yesterday in the Supreme Court building confirm this thesis.
The media campaign against judges has been going on for several years and is starting to bring the expected results. The courts are losing their authority, citizens no longer consider judges to be independent arbiters. On the other hand, the politicians are proposing solutions which they falsely call the “reform of the judiciary“, which boils down to replacing independent judges with people who are submissive to the executive. This is taking place with the tacit approval of a significant proportion of the public, which is fed by the propaganda of the pro-government media using handfuls of models developed in the times of the Polish People’s Republic.
In order to achieve their own goals, politicians and public officials, who are fully dependent on them, including those in the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, the neo-NCJ, and the Internal Affairs Department of the State Prosecution Office, are destroying the foundations of democracy in Poland without considering the consequences of their actions. In the case of Judge Beata Morawiec, the motive of political revenge because of her criticism of the pseudo-reform of the judiciary and the successful case for the protection of her personal rights against the Minister of Justice – Prosecutor General, Zbigniew Ziobro is quite clear.
In view of the above, we adamantly state that yesterday’s declaration from Mr. Adam Tomczyński has no legal force. As members of the board of the Themis Association of Judges, we are giving Ms. Beata Morawiec our full support and a vote of confidence for her to continue fulfilling her function as the President of the Association, as a judge who meets the highest moral standards.
Board members:
Beata Donhoffner-Grodzicka Anna Korwin-Piotrowska
Irena Kamińska Dominik Czeszkiewicz
Aleksandra Kiersnowska-Tylewicz Waldemar Żurek